


Special Permissions

by AlexStone



Series: Tolkientober [2]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Gandalf Rulebreaker, Gen, The archivist always gets what he wants, Tolkientober, library fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexStone/pseuds/AlexStone
Summary: Gandalf encounters a small problem in trying to find Isildur's memoirs.
Series: Tolkientober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948141
Kudos: 5





	Special Permissions

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second piece for #Tolkientober! The prompt for today is 'Yourself in Middle Earth,' which I found a bit tricky to justify within a fic. My partner suggested I use my previous job in a special collections reading room as inspiration, so I came up with this.
> 
> There is a brief allusion to my previous fic 'Principles of Original Order,' but this can definitely be read as a standalone.

Gandalf stormed through the corridors of Minis Tirith. Researchers looked up as the tall figure brushed past their tables, the scent of open fields and a long journey trailing in his wake. A young clerk had to dive out of the wizard’s path, barely keeping hold of her collection of rolled maps. The halls of the Minis Tirith archives were well ordered on a principle of radial geometry. Polished stone paths spun out into alcoves and reading rooms, each one dedicated to a subject of ferocious scholarship. Black slates lined the reading rooms, with scrawled chalk indicating the fierce velocity of human learning. Geographic Principles of Dwarven Mining. Winter Agriculture north of Rohan. Allegory in early Dunedin Literature. 

Gandalf arrived at a small desk in one of the inner circles of the archive. An elderly clerk was sat behind the table, scratching out a series of notations into an enormous ledger. A similar black slate was fixed above the door behind the clerk’s desk. The message appeared more weathered than the other signs, as if it had not been changed for years. In looped cursive it simply read: Special Collections. 

Gandalf paused, eyes flicking between the clerk and the door. The clerk did not look up, seemingly engrossed in his notating. Gandalf opened his mouth, as if to say something, and thought better of it. He turned and strode towards the door. 

“Coat and bag,” the clerk said, his eyes not moving from his ledger.

Gandalf turned, confused. He noticed a series of small hooks in an alcove next to the clerk’s desk. A sign next to the alcove explained that all coats and bags must be removed before entering the special collections reading room. A second, smaller, distinctly handwritten sign was beneath it, explaining that the Minis Tirith archives accepted no responsibility for any personal items.

The wizard frowned, before shaking his head and crossing to the alcove. He removed his outer coat and satchel, and collected a small woven basket from a pile in the corner. He filled it with his reading supplies and returned to the entrance of the reading room. 

“No ink pots,” the clerk said. 

Gandalf could swear the clerk’s eyes hadn’t moved in that moment. He looked into his basket, and returned the offending ink pot to his bag. He took a calming breath, and returned to the clerk’s desk.

“Is this sufficient?” he asked the clerk, gesturing at his basket.

The clerk dotted the end of a line and returned the quill to a holder on his desk. He looked up at the wizard through thick spectacles that magnified the brown of his eyes. 

"Gandalf Greybeard,” the clerk spoke each word with deliberate precision, “you are banned from special collections.”

Gandalf snorted. “Are you going to tell me why I have been banned?” he asked, eyebrows arched underneath his unkempt hair.

“You left an apple core next to the only surviving volumes of Arthedian correspondence,” the clerk’s voice remained level, “a mouse found your apple, and then decided to eat eight hundred years of Arnor history for dessert.”

Gandalf pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “I’m very sorry,” he said, attempting a placating tone, “but I am on a mission of great importance. I need to consult Isildur’s memoirs.”

“Absolutely not,” the clerk interrupted, “no one consults those manuscripts without permission from the head archivist.”

“Listen to me,” Gandalf said, his voice beginning to raise, “I believe I have found a relic of the Battle of Gladden Fields, an item of huge importance. I only need to consult the memoirs to confirm my suspicions.” 

The two stared at each other. After a long pause, the clerk stood. “Would you like to speak to the head archivist?” 

“Yes, I would like that,” Gandalf muttered.

“Good,” the clerk drew himself to his full height. He seemed to grow in stature before Gandalf, a great power emanating from the shadows, as his voice boomed in power, “I am the head archivist!”

The vision of power evaporated as quickly as it had appeared. The clerk seemed to shrink before Gandalf.

“I am very sorry about the mouse,” Gandalf placed his hand on the table gently, “I would ask that you forgive a foolish man his mistakes.”

The clerk sat down, seemingly exhausted from the exertion of standing. A pensive look passed across his face, before a smile began to flicker in his eyes. “There is something you can do for me,” he said.

It was because of this that Gandalf, after consulting Isildur’s memoirs, translated a bound volume of Elven letters that had stumped the most proficient Gondorian linguists. This was a blessing in disguise, as Gandalf was so disturbed by what he had discovered in Isildur’s writing, that spending several hours parsing elven conjugations helped to steady his nerves before embarking on the long journey back to the Shire.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on twitter at @AlexStoneWriter! Comments are greatly appreciated.
> 
> You can find the full list of Tolkientober prompts here: https://twitter.com/hobbitgay/status/1311350783238045696


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